So, this past year has been very very interesting … what started out as a somewhat harmless inquiry into my family history and some new agey stuff has completely turned my life upside down, inside out, bass ackwards, and who knows where else it may lead …

Anyways … that was NOT my idea of a wonderful trip to the Southwestern American Desert. Before I get too carried along, I should probably start at the beginning.

I was at my apartment outside of Boston, recuperating from my last foray out when my maid came and was visibly frightened by someone at the door. Now I know I am an odd duck, but for something to frighten her in this town was a little out of the ordinary. After sending her on to another part of the house to work, I headed downstairs.

At the door was a very odd and strange gentleman who even gave me the eebie jeebies … not that I've seen a whole lot in my life, but I knew something wasn't "right." On a whim, I tried to get a "read" off him and was shocked at how out-of-hand my attempt was cast aside. Now I may not be "good" at that sort of stuff, but I do know that it takes ONE HELL of an ability to just casually flick something like that aside.

After a very brief discussion, I send my maid home and begin doing a little bit of research. This foray took me out to New Mexico, and I wanted some idea of what I was getting myself into. The town of Mesa City didn't appear to be all that spectacular on an internet search, and even Tobin's Guide barely enlightened me on this Whisperer that I was being sent after. So I arranged for myself to get to New Mexico in standard fashion and get a good nights rest.

As I arrive in NM and head towards the Enterprise car rental place, I notice that Sissy was inside. Now I know that something serious is going on if I see her on a little foray out of town. It'd been a while since I'd seen her, so we caught up a bit; then I noticed that there was a rather beaten up looking gentleman, kinda professor looking, also in the waiting room with us. As I start to get my rental stuff take care of, in BLOWS through the door a rather flourishing Spaniard, I believe he introduced himself as Alfonce d'Rage, or something like that. After arranging our rentals, Sissy and I head out in our car, following the other two guys. I'm guessing that we're all sent here to do something about a "Threat" and to free the "Whisperer."

We head towards this town, Mesa City, and we see that a Mob has kind of started to take over the town. The Sheriff is out and roadblocks are being set up; we find out that we've entered a quarantine territory and now we're stuck. I guess that means we're in the right place and about to get started. The professor looking guy turns out to be a medical person of sorts and gets us over to the clinic where those that are ill are being treated. We notice that an odd form of rigor mortis is setting in on those that are ill and they have hideous looking grins. I manage to get myself and Alfonce in to see a patient without any medical people to watch and get one of my basic spells to work, while he keep a look out. Turns out that they are being infected magically and now that infection is aware that I cast a spell on it. Now THAT was a definitely creepy feeling …

We head out to where Alfonce saw Sissy and the professor go, only to find them looking perplexed at a body bag. The professor is doing some searching around when Sissy simply pushes him aside and starts her tracking Mojo. Now I don't know if I've ever seen ANYONE track as well as she does, so I motion for the others to follow her and I run off after her.

She leads us along to a church where some singing can be heard. As we were discussing what needed to be done, some woman threw her baby at me! I barely dodged it and stuck a throwing star in its face; at that point Alfonce kicked the child and slashed it to ribbons. Now that was some mighty fine sword work. As we follow along after Sissy, who for some reason changed tactic and headed for a medical looking place, I noticed that someone had erected some type of magical ward around a restaurant. I tell Sissy to go on ahead and that I'll meet up with them later; I decided to head over and investigate the place. Bad idea, I stupidly let myself be lured into a trap by some Tcho-Tcho people. One leveling a nasty looking cleaver, and the other hurling very foul feeling magic at me. It only takes me a few near misses for me to figure out that I'm not welcome here and book it out the building and over to where Sissy is.

I find her making a very FINE attempt to kick down a door. I knew this girl was good, but DAMN she did some damage that time. Even though the door didn't break, I know to NOT get in her way anymore. She proceeds to blow up the door and we head into what turned out to be a sanitarium. Turns out the Whisperer was being kept inside. Sissy and the professor worked on him, while I went to help Alfonce, who at that moment in time was using the stairwell as a choke point to keep the "happy faces" from coming up after us. As he is slicing them up to ribbons, I decide to rain some sleet down the stairwell to hopefully make it harder for them to come up it. That works, but then they start thrashing the building, trying to collapse it. We successfully get onto the roof, and I look over to see that the "Whisperer" is also in fairly dire straits. I take matters in hand and whip up another spell to cleanse the old man of whatever he's got in his system; and that's when the fun began.

"Happy face" zombies are trying to get to us, Mr. Whisperer dude is just staring off into space, and I make a last ditch effort to raise a wall of flame around us. Somehow that managed to work and I was very grateful for the respite of keeping the "Zombies" away, when I notice that we're now somewhere in the mountains and it's COLD! After some talk between the professor looking dude and the "Whisperer" the "Happy Faces" are all gone. They all notice that the Whisperer is coughing, and I had somewhat gathered that that was BAD. So with my last bit of strength I Heal the dude again and pass out. Apparently that was the right thing to do, as I find out after waking up to find the old man gone and Sissy directing us on how to get home.

So I've finally made it home … I'm getting more or less used to these monthly jaunts, "Games" they have been called. After each successful one, I have been given or granted some new knowledge or ability. Well off to study my new power and see where the next Game takes me.

Holy HELL! I've had an occasion where I was unable to complete a mission/game … but this was the first time I'd been on a "cleanup" mission. Alfonse was also sent out, as he was on the original mission. Shapeshifters suck … and I never was really a dog person to begin with. Now after being bitten, shot at by, and having lightning thrown from a "person" who was a dog, or something like that, really makes me not care for dogs. This was after traipsing around central Illinois for a couple of days and into a camping ground of some sort …

Anyways, I'm just glad to have put that behind me. Now time for a little vacation and some meditation … not quite sure if I'm feeling fortunate or lucky to have survived this last mission …

I haven't heard nor seen Sissy or Jake(peck) in a while … I wonder how they are doing …

I don't really remember much of being a baby. Parents always said I was a fairly quiet child and didn't fuss too much. The staff haven't ever really complained about me as an infant. The only thing I can really recall people saying is that I resemble an apparently no spoken about forefather of our family.
Growing up, I do remember hearing that a lot. “Galen kinda resembles your Grandfather, you know?” Was something that I'd heard in passing more than once. Not that anybody would ever tell me about this “Grandfather.” Can't be my direct Grandfathers, cause I know them, but I'm thinking that they are looking farther back in our family. School was just that, school. I wasn't the brightest student in our classes, but I was far from the dimmest. I've always loved to read; books, now those were my best friends for many years.
High school, now those are more recent memories. I'm not all that old, ye know. I really started to come into my own then. I wasn't terribly fast or strong, but I was smart. Made it through school easily, and started some family research into this “Grandfather” of mine to help fill out the empty ours of my day. Through a LOT of time and digging I found out that he was a “Sorcerer” of sorts. Oddly enough, I know that we're descended from Gypsies, and yet, I've never seen any reference to men using “Magic” in their culture. Hmm, interesting … could that have been why they don't want to talk about him? Anyways, the stuff I found and what I acquired over time is what has come with me to Boston where I live while I'm in school.

2. If you were a weather pattern or meteoric phenomenon, what would you be? Why?

Weather, eh? I'd probably consider myself a Flash Thunderstorm, like the kind they have in Florida. Quick to arrive and very loud, flashy, and obviously there. Then afterwards, things are back the way they were before it came though, except that you can see whatever damage was wrought, but now under clear blue skies.

3. What is(are) your most prized possession(s)? What makes it(them) so special?

My most prized possessions…hmm, they would currently be the ninja-to I picked up many months ago on my first “Game,” a real copy of Tobin's Guide, and the Ring that I recently inherited. The ninja-to is simply for me, proof that I'm not going crazy from these “Games.” Tobin's doesn't need an explanation, IT'S TOBIN'S! Now the Ring, that's new. I'm told that I inherited it from another family member and that it belonged to a forefather of the family; they say that they don't know who, but I wonder if it's from that “Grandfather.” I find that it has become very helpful with my own Sorcerous studies.

4. Do you know any songs? What kind? How did you learn them?

I know a few, I can somewhat sing. I can keep a tune along with the radio; picked up a few at Ren Faires and what not.

5. Have you ever been in love? With who? What happened? If not, why not?

To be totally honest, I don't really think I've ever been in love. My studies have kind of kept me busy enough to not really think about it. Crushes, yeah, what teenager/twenty something doesn't have those, but “in love?” hasn't happened to me.

6. If you were going somewhere special that you wanted to look your best for, what would you do to prepare? What would you wear? How long would it take you to get ready?

Hmm, being from a well to do family does have it's advantages here. I'd typically go with the tailored black suit look. Probably doesn't take me longer than an hour or so to get ready for a night out on the town.

7. What will you do for next birthday?

My next birthday will hopefully be a nice dinner out on with the family in NYC. Haven't really decided where yet, just thought I'd go out with the family for dinner, and then drinks at X – Marks the spot.

8. What are your worst fears? Why? (Min. three paragraphs.)

Things I fear … hmm. I try not to think about fear too much; it tends to erode my will to control the Sorcery I've taken to. But to be honest, I once encountered some very nasty Spiders that can warp space and geometry in a way that not only boggles the mind, but looks very unpleasant to have done to oneself. The screams of that one “roller” echo from some of my nightmares from time to time.
There were also these very very strange hive-mind zombies that really scared the bejezus out of me. Never have I met any talking babies, much less ones that were out to really get me. Though out of that moment I learned how to manage a wall of fire and keep it going.
The only other thing I can think of that really strikes fear for me is when I was learning my new magic and was “kidnapped” mid-spell. That's made me very cautious about how much spell casting I throw around from time to time.

9. Which historical figure do you look up to the most? Why?

Merlin, you know from King Arthur. I'd admire that even though he stood at odds against those who hated magic and him, he still stuck to his guts and kept by Arthur's side.

10. When would you decide to retire? Where would you settle down at? What would you do?

Retire? Well, I honestly don't know when I'd retire; it is an awfully long time away from now. But when I do, I wouldn't settle down. I'd travel, maybe even learn the ways of my Gypsy ancestors.

11. If you had theme music, what would it sound like?

Theme music? Really, what kind of question is that? Maybe something techno'ish, Sandstorm by DaRude? Never really thought about it.

12. Describe your ambition. What makes you want it so bad that you would risk your life for it? (Min. three paragraphs)

Currently my goal is to figure out what's so special about that “Grandfather” and why everybody is so hush hush about it. Ambition-wise, I'm kinda wondering why I've been gifted with such Sorcery and what else I'm supposed to do with it. There are a lot of odd, strange, and decidedly not nice things out there … maybe it's time to really have a look at them and figure what I can do about it…

13. Do the ends justify the means?

Yeah, I think they do. I may not always do things the “right” way, but if I get the results that are needed, then I'm content. I've been spending a lot of time doing things in unusual ways lately anyways, and it's become kind of a habit for me now.

Hobbit song … good heavens, WHO in their right mind sings that during a Ren Faire? Really people, it's not only FREAKING ANNOYING but not really all that entertaining to begin with. Now, I have nothing against the Hobbit, or Tolkien, or even the Middle Earth series, but REALLY PEOPLE????

Anyways, there was this full scale replica of Sauron armor walking and singing along with them … *snickersREALLYsnickers* It stopped and spoke to me in a very hollow and echoing voice about some guy named Edgar Christie around Toronto that needed to be taken care of and a golden throne of sorts, or at least that's what I think he said… As much as I was *SO* enjoying the serenading *shudders*, I figured that this is probably another one of those "Games" invitations that I've been getting every month or so.

After getting home, I started in on some research about the Christie estate near Toronto. Scrying showed me an abandoned building on the far outskirts of Toronto. Some further research via phone found me in contact with a maintenance company that wasn't really going there with any real frequency, and there wasn't much in the way of history about the place. I decided that a nice scenic drive to Toronto wouldn't do me much harm. I got myself a room at a nice hotel upon arrival to spend the night and rest up from the drive.

In the morning, I attempted to find some more information at the local library and even the city hall without much success. By now I decided it'd be time to make the drive out town towards the "estate." While en route, I noticed that there was a rather strange man in what appeared to be Arabian robes spinning off to the side of the road. I've heard of whirling dervishes before yet had never seen one. Now here before me was not only what appeared to be an authentic dervish, but was also on the side of the road in the direction I was going in. I pulled over and took some pictures as this was definitely not to be missed. He finished whatever he was doing and came up to my vehicle. He introduced himself as Elijahwan something or other. He accepted my offer of a ride up to the place, and we saw a lime green range rover drive past us towards the estate. Following up on their heels, we all managed to arrive at the estate. Lo and behold, it was none other than the infamous Spaniard, Alphonse, and the Professor Raslow. Accompanying them was a lady, who turned out to be an escort from Chicago named Irina. I had attempted to sense the energy of the area, and it all seemed to be tied into the house somewhere, fueling something deep within the bowels of said estate.

The gate/portcullis of the property was locked, which I easily opened, but I sensed a Ward of some sort within the walls themselves. The professor simply barged on ahead, on foot, saying something about mine fields and what not. After following him on foot, we ended up at the main door. This door was HUGE and OLD with GIANT Knockers on it, which the professor promptly used. This caused the doors to open up on their own. Once inside, I began mapping my way through what appeared to be a multi-acre complex of a mansion house. Up ahead, the professor, the Spaniard, and the dervish were talking up at the top of the main stairwell. Somehow during the conversation, the Spaniard reached out and stabbed the professor through the back, AND HE LIVED! At this point I ran up the stairs and placed a healing spell on the the professor, much to his perpetual dismay I'm sure. He keeps muttering something about upstart students and things like that … the students must behave so much differently in the UK than here in the states. Next thing I know, I've now lost control of my body, due to some nefarious spirit, and was soon lobbing a lightning bolt at the Chi-town girl. Luckily, the Ghost isn't all that familiar with my abilities, cause the lady somehow survived the blast. Anyways, I was able to regain control of my head and I warned everybody to run, far and fast, which they mostly did. As soon as I regained control of my body, I quickly apologized to the Lady, and she seemed to understand that I really wasn't in control of myself at that point. I don't know much about ghosts and such, but I do have a grasp of energy flows, and realized that he, the spirit of Christie, had to be drawing his power from somewhere and having that power disrupted would not only "free" up the ambient energy, but also possibly make him weaker … it was a long shot, but I figure it'll be worth it.

Not really knowing how to get back together with the rest of the group, I started on my particular quest to reduced the available ambient power. The Lady came with me and kept me aware if said Ghost showed himself. It was a rather hair raising experience finding and destroying the two "easily" accessed keystones. One was in a room with a well, hiding a rather nasty tentacled beast, and the other was in a room full of statuary, where said Ghost tried to smite me and the Lady gave me enough warning to flee. Both keystones were simply slagged/vaporized with the application of a very injudicious amount of Heat. Up 'til this point, there was no sign of any "golden throne."

The final keystone was not very easily accessible, so I slowly found my way back to the rest of the group that was sent here. They had finally found a way down into the foundation of the building where a room was with non-load bearing walls greeted us. Irina then began to mutter something about how the walls "spun away as if on puppet strings" or something like that. The professor, I'd say good, but this incident does leave me wondering, injected some sort of serum into his skull and began what can only be called a Dr. Jekell/Mr. Hyde transformation. After what seemed like forever, Raslow emerged from his feverish state a behemoth of a man that simply knocked the offending walls out of his way. A few minutes of this revealed none other than the golden throne, with its very own macabre golden skeleton. Before I could even act, Raslow unleashed some sort of hellish bolt that began to incinerate it, and Irina was struck down by some force that no one saw. I then garnered my own energies to add more flame to the task. That was basically the end of that throne, though I believe I saw Alphonse snap a picture of it. A search of what appeared to be a dark alchemy lab revealed a safe, that contained several writings, jewels, and such. From this collection I was able to secure for myself a book of sorts, which I hope to have some time to decipher later.

I was able to begin Irina's healing process, and she handed me a business card. From that point on, we parted ways. They to whence they came, and I back to my abode in New England…

I made it back home safe and relatively sound. I've been fairly shaken up recently by the appearance of several Ghosts and their ilk in my past few "Games." Upon further examination of the book I found at the Christie Estate, The Malthean Codex, I began to realize that there was more about the Realms of the Spirit and those other realms that border or even touch and impinge on our own than I ever suspected …

Huh … This was really something else; somehow They managed to track me down at a Ren Faire that I was setting up to do readings at. An envelope arrived asking for me to make my way to Reykjavík in Iceland and THEN to a conference room at a hotel of all places, plane ticket and all. Now I've recently had a few HARROWING experiences with these "Games," so I decided to make my own way there. Once I arrived, I took the liberty of booking a hotel room in another part of town, and then opted to stay at a hostel elsewhere. One can never be too careful nowadays, considering I think I may have had a bad run-in or two with a couple of government agencies recently. While making my way around town, I met Irina, the Professor, Mr. De'Vries, and (after dodging what could have been a terrible accident) Ramiro/Azul. After a scrumptious dinner, I went back to my hostel and spent a quiet evening. In the morning, which I woke up late and had to haul back towards the original hotel, I came across Ramiro stumbling around. After unsuccessfully trying to get him to come with, I noticed that he was more than a little hung over, and I held up my flask for him to see. Once I had his attention, it took everything I had to stay ahead of him on the way back to the hotel. Good gods, that mountain of whatever he is can move FAST!

Once I got to the hotel, some instinct told me to just open the conference room door and toss the flask in. Thank heavens I did, talk about projective vomiting … *shudders* I'm sooooo glad I didn't have clean up duty that day. Back to the topic on hand, we saw Mr. Lassiter as well in the conference room. Apparently, we as a group were being asked to go and take photos of a book in a secret lab. Along with taking these pictures, we were also to leave no evidence that we were infiltrating the complex, or that we were after the book. We were offered a choice of being smuggled in as servant staff or being dropped off at a separate location. We were given copies of some hand drawn maps of the complex and allowed time to deliberate on how we wanted to approach this task. We were told that we would be assigned "pets" to follow us around and allow us to more or less blend into the crowd. Mr. De'Vries stated that he wouldn't be of much use at this moment in time and slipped himself off into a mirror, which Irina took charge of. We then decided to attempt a two pronged approach, with some on the inside and a few on the outside.

After retrieving our "pets" and suitable uniforms from the "Recruiter," we were then taken on a rather long ride and into a tunnel of sorts. I got the distinct impression that upon entering the "tunnel" we crossed into a different world. We were then loaded onto what could only be called an "Airship" and sent on our way. The airship was a essentially a giant goodyear blimp/zepplin type thing. The professor, leading the external team (himself, Nikita, and Ramiro), told us to be ready to act as soon as his signal came. Oh, heavens, what did he have in mind? After some time travelling, those of us who were going into the complex were dropped off and milled about in the crowd of workers and servants. This led us, Mr. Lassiter, Irina, and myself, to being split by gender into separate dormitory style bunkers. I was able to find myself a quiet corner in which to attempt some of my scrying ability. I was able to determine that Irina was well ensconced in the women's dorm, and that the book was indeed where they said it would be. I reported this little bit of news to Lassiter, and soon the dinner bell was being rung.

In the mess hall, I was able to make contact with Irina, and let her know what little I was able to scry out. We were then escorted back our respective dorms, and were told to bed down for the evening. After taking some quiet time and space to map out where we needed to go, in relation to where we were, I began getting settled in for the evening. Soon I was wakened by the sound of alarms going off and soldiers going every which way outside of our dorm. I found Lassiter and waited to see what was going to happen next, thinking that this may be the signal that the Professor was referring to. Soon Irina was at the entrance of our dorm, leading us off and helping us get past the guards, as I led us towards the laboratory where the book was kept. Once there, Irina and I were able to pick the lock and get us into the room. Once inside, I was able to jam the door and block it for a bit while Irina began the photography session. Lassiter helped a bit, while I unleashed Mr. De'Vries from his mirror, though he then put on a most interesting helm which then endowed him to walk freely and dressed him in a most unusual outfit. (Not that I have much room to speak in that arena, due to some new Garb I recently acquired from a previous mission) I took over for Lassiter, whilst he did something to the door, and De'Vries did some fiddling around with a machine which dominated the center of the room, and one of the pets. Outside the room, we could hear all sorts of noise and chaos; it seemed like there was a tornado erupting as well as people who were trying to get into the lab. Lassiter manned the door, whilst Irina and I finished with the photographs. Just as we finished, the tornado sound outside stopped, and then we noticed that people were really trying to get into the lab. I was then able to whisk us away on the dulcet chimes of my bells, and a couple of jumps later we arrived near the zepplin again. Once there, the crew of the zepplin began preparing the vessel for lift off, as we waited for the external team to return to the ship.

From over the crest a hill beyond the ship, there came the howling cry of wolves and men. From within the vessel I was able to see that we just happened to be in the line of fire between this group and apparently the complex that we had raided. I was able to spend produce a wall of Heat enough to keep them at bay for a bit whilst the crew kept preparing the ship for take off. There was also a flash of blinding light that seemed to be aimed towards the raiders. The Heatwall helped a bit, and soon I was able to see Azul bound over the ship, Lassiter strapped to his back and began engaging the new raiding forces. Soon we received the all clear, and the crew was able to execute lift off and take us away to safety.

Upon our return to the tunnel, we were thanked for our work and bidden to leave through the tunnel. As I was stepping through the tunnel, I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning last second as I stepped through and apparently back into my world, I felt the wisp of wings as an owl flew out after me and settled onto my shoulders…

After securing myself and my belongings from our exit of the tunnel, I was able to get a closer look at the owl that flew out after me. There was a shimmer for a moment as the owl was beginning to manifest itself in this world, but I somehow knew that it was here to stay. After a moment, Archimedes (who's name I somehow knew), faded from view and left me with the impression that he'd be waiting for me back at home in the States. This left me with a rather odd feeling of completeness; this I'll have to explore in further depth once I return to the states and Archimedes.